Forget the Courtesies
by Miss Mary Sue
Summary: She's smiling. The guardians are smiling. Heck, everyone's smiling - was Tidus the only one who noticed something was wrong? Tidus/Yuna in the early part of the game. Oneshot, fluff.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy._

**FORGET THE COURTESIES**

Some might find this hard to believe, but Tidus was popular too.

Well, technically, he _had _been popular, back when he was in Zanarkand. He remembered diving under the colossal sphere pool, squinting for the ball against the bright lights, hearing screaming fans in the stands calling his name. They loved him. They would always crowd around him before the game, he remembered, pleading the boy to sign autographs, teach them how to play blitz, anything from the great sports star.

But now that he was in this new world, Spira or whatever they called it, it seemed unlikely anyone would believe that.

Instead, the person who hogged the spotlight was Yuna. He only met her for a couple of days, and he really didn't understand what all the fuss was about her, except that she was some sort of magical summoner that could send the dead away to the Farplane to rest in peace. Big whoop.

Tidus wrinkled his nose as he watched another child run up to join the line. _What's the big deal?_

In his world, that kid would've been begging him to sign his ball instead of just chattering up with her.

Even after finishing another summoning, the villagers were still huddled close together around Yuna, talking and oozing compliments to the girl. How long could it take to finish talking to someone? Tidus tapped his foot impatiently as he tried to make her out of the horde of people, but only caught a glimpse of her face and staff. The rest were normal townspeople whose heads were blocking his vision, and the boy noted her definitely lucky for not being claustrophobic.

There were adults, and then there were small children and the elderly. She attracted pretty much everyone from what he'd seen. The little girls got to hold her hand and the little boys blushed too much to. The adults talked and praised her work, and the grandparents bowed their heads in deep gratitude.

If Tidus looked closer, he could see some who brushed tears away from their cheeks.

… Fine. So Yuna _was _amazing. But the first time he was able to witness her sending was also the first time he never wanted to see it again.

Watching her as she had walked on water, her toes forming spiral waves in the lake, the staff gliding across in smooth circles as the once vengeful souls floated peacefully to a faraway land... it was amazing, but somehow, incredibly sad at the same time.

_With a job like that, doesn't she ever feel...  
_  
"Didn't I tell you don't get no ideas?"

Tidus turned his head around to meet a grinning redhead.

"I always seeing you eyeing her a couple of times, you know."

He frowned. "Why is it always me who can't get close to her and everyone else can ogle her however they want?"

The blonde realized he sounded too much like some overly jealous lover by the time he blurted out those words, so he nodded down and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. Wakka just shook his head and sighed, and then turned back up at the summoner, who was now knelt down to accept a keychain gift from a young girl.

"Summoners are always so loved, ya?" he noted, and the smile returned back to his face.

"I guess..."

Tidus began to scan their surroundings for the other guardians. Kimahri stood a few feet away from them, arms crossed and expression serious. He didn't seem to mind the many people surrounding Yuna, and neither did Lulu. A tug curled her lips up as the black mage watched, probably proud of the girl for having come so far. The children giggled, their grandparents crinkled their eyes in pleasantry, and all the others smiled.

Heck,_ everyone _was smiling, except for him.

Was Tidus the only one who noticed something was wrong?

"Being a summoner is tough, but with so many people relying on you and praising you, no wonder Yuna's always smiling with them, eh?"

Wakka said this with a firm nod, but this time, the remarks didn't interrupt Tidus from his thoughts. He stared at the girl covered up by the mass of people and watched her actions with unusual attentiveness than before.

One would have thought the seventeen year old was simply admiring her like the others, but his gaze was different. He narrowed his eyes, as if somehow to magnify her expression. Her smiles, her thank yous, they all seemed out of place. And, through some inexplicable reason, he could sense his own familiarity behind it.

It was probably because Tidus was popular too.

(Okay, okay, fine. _Had _been.)

He recognized it. The tight-lipped smile she kept, the frequent, quiet nods she made, those strange heterochromia eyes wandering off to another different place every once in a while, he noticed them all.

And maybe Tidus really had been overanalyzing things too much, or he was so bored out of his mind that he was desperate enough to do anything, or he was too fed up with Wakka's words of warning of should the two ever become involved together – but whatever basis he had for doing what he did, it was all scattered and lost in his mind when he suddenly shouted "Hey, Yuna!" and ran up to her, not a single care of whether crowds of people were blocking the way or not.

It all happened so fast, Tidus didn't remember if it was because he didn't want to be pelted by the villagers or because the quicker the better was for her sake. But what he did remember were the gasps and yells when the blonde shoved his way through the mob, and he remembered they all quickly turned into shrieks of terror when he grabbed her hand and pulled her away with him. The two ran – or rather, he dragged her off – past the people, past the guardians, past the little houses and past the trees.

Someone shouted, "Dirty little runt!", and another screeched, "Take your hands off of Lady Yuna!" He also thought he heard Wakka yell what the heck he was doing, or maybe that was actually his inner conscience instead. Because at that moment, he honestly had no idea, and not even a single clue where they were even running off to. Tidus just knew they had to go somewhere. Anywhere but here.

Eventually the two slowed down their footsteps and he let go of her hand. He stopped to place his palms on his thighs, leaning over and panting heavily from their rough sprint. He no longer heard anyone calling after them – only Yuna's own raggedy breathing, and then her speaking up afterwards.

"Why did you do that…?" she finally managed to ask, once the two were able to regain their breath again. Tidus turned himself to the girl and noticed she had left her staff in the village when they started running.

"What're you talking about?" he returned the question, and then flashed her a grin. "I'm just helping you do what you've been wanting to do for the past… oh, I don't know, hour?"

The summoner's eyes grew just a little bigger and her mouth opened just a little wider, but she soon snapped her head down and fell silent. Tidus thought she was about to ask him how he knew, but she looked too embarrassed to question the boy.

Soon Yuna looked back up at him, and slowly, she spoke again. "Everyone's going to be angry with you," she pointed out softly, her eyebrows furrowed with worry and her lips set in a firm line.

It made her all the more surprised when he snorted.

"Who cares? I'll just say I've 'breathed too much of Sin's toxin', remember?" he said, and made air quotation marks with his fingers. She gaped at him with even more confusion, so the blonde continued on some more.

"Forget the courtesies! Even I wouldn't be able to stand suffocating with so many people!" Tidus looked at her, hoping if his straight expression appeared convincing enough, she'd listen to him. "It's okay to put yourself in front of others. Once in a while is fine. And besides… this is what you wished for, right?"

He motioned towards the scenery surrounding them, and Yuna blinked and took a look at their settings for the first time.

They were not very far away from the village. Tidus had led the two of them into a creek nearby. Yuna gazed at the trees, their looming branches and birds that inhabited them as their home. Water streamed through the riverbank quietly, and besides the light chirping from the birds, all else was silent.

Serene. Peace. Solitude. No one else around except for the strange boy who claimed to come from Zanarkand and the soft-spoken summoner.

She stood there, without a single word, staring in deep thought at the slow steam of water. She didn't answer his question – and because of that, it finally dawned on Tidus that he had never really _asked_ about what she felt in the first place, just acted out on his own based on impulsive judgment.

After all, he barely even knew the girl, if only for a few days.

It was his turn to be embarrassed this time, as he turned away from her in anxiousness of whatever was going through her head. He scratched his own, unsure of what to do next.

Before the blonde could regret anymore of his rash decisions, he heard footsteps approaching closer behind him. Yuna had something to say, and he didn't expect what was coming up next.

"Thank you."

It was spoken so softly he had to blink and round himself facing her to see if she had really said it.

If she didn't, her expression made up for it. Her small teeth revealed themselves as her lips curled up. The muscles drew the skin around her eyes tight, and her cheekbones stood out from the rest of her features. Yuna stared directly up at the boy's surprised cobalt eyes and beamed a full wide smile.

"Thank you, Tidus." She repeated once more, this time with a hint of laughter bubbling underneath. She expressed her smile so vividly, so brightly, so _real_.

Tidus stared back at her strangely. He felt sort of stupid – after all, they were only strangers to each other at this point.

But for a moment, just for a moment, he thought he was beginning to understand why everyone loved her so much.

_- F I N -_

**Author's Note: **Yuck, this did not go as well as I had planned. I have mixed feelings about this story, mostly because I've barely started playing the game and I'm totally unsure whether the characters are IC or not. Other questions are, did any of the events/dialogue contradict what really happens in the rest of the game, and did I fluff up the ending too much (particularly the last line)? Sigh…

Tell me what you think; some feedback would be really appreciated and helpful for me to formulate an actual opinion on the story. But, even if you don't review, thank you for reading anyways! :-)


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